


Golden Slumbers

by ifeelsinister



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Nightmares, Polyamory, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-16
Updated: 2016-06-16
Packaged: 2018-07-15 08:51:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7215754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ifeelsinister/pseuds/ifeelsinister
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bucky's recurring nightmares make him hesitant to share a bed with his boyfriends, Sam and Steve. Just a short, extremely cliche drabble I wrote for tumblr.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Golden Slumbers

After Sam, Steve, and Bucky all get together, Bucky still doesn’t want to share a bed with the other two. He tosses and turns all night, every night, and more often than not he wakes up screaming multiple times a night. He says he doesn’t want to wake Sam and Steve up with his nightmares, and that’s partially true, but also, he just doesn’t want them to see him like this so soon into their relationship, like he’s afraid it’ll scare them away even though they already know what they’re getting into with him and are totally understanding. Even still, he doesn’t want to risk it, and they try to be understanding of that.

So for a couple of weeks, Sam, Steve, and Bucky will cuddle before bed, have sex, just sit and talk, whatever it is they feel like doing that night--but as soon as they get ready to go to sleep, Bucky slips down the hall to his own separate room. It doesn’t really feel right to Sam or Steve to sleep without Bucky, but they don’t want to push him into doing anything he’s uncomfortable with, so they make do without him, even if the bed does feel notably emptier without him.

Even though Bucky is sleeping down the hall, he still wakes them up with his nightmares sometimes; the walls are thin and Steve has super-hearing, so he’d probably hear it even if they weren’t. Usually, one or both of them will go down the hall to him, find him curled in on himself in bed, sometimes crying quietly or rocking himself back and forth to try and calm himself down. If he says it’s okay, they’ll wrap him up in their arms and whisper soothing words to him until he calms down a bit, but sometimes he tells them he wants to be alone. They always obey his wishes, though it’s hard for them to leave him when they know he’s hurting. Even on the nights where he does allow them to stay and comfort him, though, he always asks that they leave before any of them have the chance to fall asleep again in the same bed.

After a couple of months of this routine--Bucky goes to bed alone, wakes up with a nightmare, Sam and Steve come check on him only for him to ask them to go back to bed--Bucky’s nightmares start getting worse. Anytime he closes his eyes for more than 30 minutes, he’s jolted awake with vivid images of death and torture and  _ good evening, soldier  _ and so much fucking blood. Sometimes, he’s able to silence himself before his cries wake up his boyfriends down the hall, but that doesn’t make the dreams any less real or torturous.

One night, about an hour after Bucky dismisses himself to his own room, Sam and Steve are lying awake in bed, wrapped around each other and talking in hushed voices when they hear the door to their room creak open. Glancing up in unison, they can barely make out Bucky’s silhouette in the darkness, hesitantly peering into the room, dressed in plaid pajama pants and a t-shirt. He just stands there for a moment, not saying anything until Steve prompts gently, “Buck? Everything okay?”

Bucky ducks his head, staring down at his bare feet as he murmurs, “I, um. I was wondering if I could...” He swallows. “Can I stay in here tonight?”

Sam and Steve briefly meet each other’s eyes before Sam replies with a small smile, “Of course, baby. C’mere.”

Bucky shuffles over to the bed, arms wrapped tightly around himself as they make room for him. “You wanna be in the middle or on the outside?” Sam asks, and Bucky thinks for a second before answering, “Middle.”

Steve holds up the edge of the blanket, allowing Bucky to crawl in between him and Sam. Once he’s situated beneath the blankets, Bucky lies rigidly on his back, staring up at the ceiling, shoulders tense until he feels warm arms wrap around him from both sides, and the tension slowly seeps out of his muscles. Steve rests his head on Bucky’s chest, and Sam presses a kiss to Bucky’s temple before settling in against his side. Surrounded with their warmth, able to hear their steady breaths in his ear and their skin on his own, Bucky allows his eyes to slip closed.

For the first time in years, Bucky sleeps soundly throughout the entire night.

 


End file.
